


we're gossip material, babe

by whochanwoo



Series: times jeno thinks jaemin lives up to his "special friend" title [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Best friends to lovers actually, Boyfriends, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hugs, Lee Jeno is Whipped, M/M, Na Jaemin is Whipped, Soft Lee Jeno, a lot of it, attempted humour hehe, rated teen cos hyuck swears like 4 times?, really soft smooches, seriously this is so soft, the rest of the members are implied, what more to tag is the real question here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24776503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whochanwoo/pseuds/whochanwoo
Summary: “I thought I was weird but this fucker named Jaemin appeared and I felt normal for the first time,” Donghyuck scoffs disbelievingly, looking at his phone at a video of Jaemin chasing Renjun around.“What is he doing?” Jungwoo asks, half of his body leaning over Donghyuck’s shoulder to stare closer at the undecipherable chain of events unravelling in the video.Jungwoo leans back, going back to leaning against the headboard of the bed. Donghyuck sighs, “He’s trying to kiss Renjun. On the lips.”OrThe story in which Jaemin likes to kiss his friends on the lips and everyone hates it. Everyone but Jeno.
Relationships: Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Series: times jeno thinks jaemin lives up to his "special friend" title [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838488
Comments: 16
Kudos: 574





	we're gossip material, babe

**Author's Note:**

> This is just self-indulgent word vomit at this point so enjoy!

“I thought I was weird but this fucker named Jaemin appeared and I felt normal for the first time,” Donghyuck scoffs disbelievingly, looking at his phone at a video of Jaemin chasing Renjun around. 

“What is he doing?” Jungwoo asks, half of his body leaning over Donghyuck’s shoulder to stare closer at the undecipherable chain of events unravelling in the video. 

Jungwoo leans back, going back to leaning against the headboard of the bed. Donghyuck sighs, “He’s trying to kiss Renjun. On the lips.”

“What?” Jungwoo doesn’t outrightly show surprise, scared it would offend Donghyuck who, as much as he says he hates the Dreamies, loves them just as much. Instead, he frowns hard enough to convey confusion. “Is he… you know… um, gay?”

“He’s not. At least, I don’t think so.” Donghyuck scratches the back of his head, scrunching his face up at the last memory of Jaemin catching him off guard and stealing a peck on his lips. “He just has a special character.”

“That's cute, I guess,” Jungwoo mumbles for the lack of better words. 

Donghyuck snorts. “That’s weird, Hyung. Seriously, who the fuck kisses their friends on the lips?” 

“Jaemin does,” Jeno announces his arrival by answering Donghyuck’s question, not knowing that they were just talking about Jaemin. He genuinely thought it was a real question to be answered. “Oh, hey, Hyung!” 

“Hey, Jen.” Jungwoo smiles, realising that he should really watch his words now that Jaemin’s real hunk of a best friend has arrived. Internally, he calculates the percentage of him winning if a fight between him and Jeno ever breaks out. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah,” Jeno mumbles, bringing a hand up to run his fingers through his hair, his bicep flexing as he does so. 

Jungwoo concludes it’s a 0% chance of him winning. He gulps. “Where’s Jaemin?” 

Jeno pauses for a fraction of a second, fingers still tangled in his hair as he eyes Jungwoo in a particular way. Before Jungwoo could overthink it, however, Jeno smiles and motions to the door, dramatically swinging open. In comes Jaemin in all of his glory, his cheeky grin and his insistent hands. Jaemin pounces on Donghyuck, cuddling him for a while before kissing his cheek.

If Donghyuck hadn’t shielded his face away Jaemin would have kissed his lips instead. Between giving away his cheeks and giving away his lips, it’s a clear choice what it would always be. 

Renjun and Chenle then come in, hand already covering their mouth as they eye Jaemin with a look of warning. Jaemin pouts, genuinely getting upset that everyone seems to be pushing him away. 

That’s when Jeno calls out for him, “Jaemin, did you come all the way from your Mom’s house?”

“Jeno! My lovable, cute, handsome, ugly, lame Jeno!” Jaemin practically dives into Jeno’s arms. 

Although his best friend was still adjusting his hair, Jaemin doesn’t care, caging Jeno in his arms as he cooes. 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Jeno points out. 

Jaemin whines under his breath, staring up at his best friend with sparkly eyes. Jeno frowns. Jaemin is always getting distracted like that, like his attention span doesn’t stretch on for very long, but Jeno knows how wrong that is when he’s seen his best friend focused on rehearsals till he forgets to drink water for 7 hours straight. 

“Jeno.”

“What?”

Then, Jaemin leans in, pecking Jeno’s lips as if it’s the most natural thing to do. The smacking sound of lips on lips catches everyone off guard, making them freeze in place as they wait for Jeno’s reaction. 

This whole kissing thing is new. It’s something that started off as Jaemin trying to baby Jisung, but then he was trying to baby everyone. In which everyone runs away from him at any given chance. And Jeno… Well, Jaemin has never tried to kiss Jeno on the lips, they think. The rest writes it off as maybe some form of agreement Jeno had miraculously coerced Jaemin into agreeing to, but it never occurred to them that Jeno really doesn’t mind. 

If Jaemin tried to kiss anyone on the lips, they would freak out, everyone would hear, and there’s that. So, when Jeno had never screamed at Jaemin—not even once—they assumed Jaemin had never done it to his best friend. 

To everyone’s surprise, Jeno doesn’t get angry. Not at all. He doesn't even look fazed by it, like this is an everyday occurrence for him. 

“I already told you I have a cough, didn’t I? What if you get sick?” Jeno frowns even harder, though his arms are now snaking around Jaemin’s waist. “If you get a cough, don’t come complaining to me about it.”

“Wow, and here I thought you were my best friend,” Jaemin deadpans. 

“I am. And that’s why I’m telling you to watch your health—”

Jaemin kisses Jeno again to shut him up. “This is why you're lame, Jeno. You don’t even let me kiss you.”

“I let you kiss me every single time! If I wasn’t sick, I really don’t care nor mind! But I’m sick and I don’t want you to be sick too.”

From the side, Donghyuck scoots closer to Jungwoo and whispers furiously, “Fuck, Jeno’s even fucking weirder for letting Jaemin do whatever he wants.”

Dancing is hard. Honestly, it really is. Black On Black is an extremely difficult choreography even for the main dancers like Taeyong and Ten. It’s not the choreography that’s hard, actually, but the fact that 18 boys have to weave their way around each other and not bump into one another is hard. 

“Baby Jisung getting his solo part! My baby!” Jaemin hops around Jisung, holding the younger’s hands as the latter shies away with a giggle. 

Jaemin tries to kiss Jisung then, earning a scream of fear and a few smacks all over his body. The older members watch on with a laugh, apparently familiar enough with Jaemin’s antics after hearing about it from Donghyuck. Jisung asks for help but no one except Jeno does. 

“Jaemin,” Jeno calls out softly, panting a little as they’ve all stopped practicing just a few seconds ago. 

Like magic, Jeno’s one call of his name manages to rip Jaemin apart from sticking too close to Jisung. Jaemin bounces around Jisung and away to make his way to Jeno. 

“My one and only love Jeno has a solo part too, right?” Jaemin gleefully claps his hands, cooing at the way Jeno’s eyes disappear behind pretty crescents at the pride Jaemin radiates. 

Jeno opens his arms out of reflex when Jaemin shifts to hug him, tipping his head up to plant a loud smooch on the side of Jeno’s lips. He then pauses. 

“You missed,” Jeno jokes, smiling harder. 

Jaemin kisses him again, this time right in the middle, on his lips. Jeno smiles, laughs even, when Jaemin giggles and hops out of his arms to celebrate the fact that he hadn’t missed his mark the second time around. The whole room goes quiet, even the managers had paused whatever they were doing to watch. It’s unusual. 

It’s so unusual that even the older members who had heard Donghyuck complaining relentlessly about Jaemin kissing people on their lips hadn’t believed their eyes. What struck them as odd was the fact that Jeno hadn’t rejected Jaemin’s kisses. 

What’s odder is the fact that Jaemin and Jeno continue their conversation like any other teenage boys would, talking about shoes and games. Almost like they hadn’t just kissed each other twice. 

“I told you your beloved Jeno was weird, but you never believe me,” Donghyuck mumbles, shooting a glare at Doyoung. 

Doyoung sighs. “Is he gay?”

“It’d be better if he was ‘cause it wouldn’t be weird, then. But no! They call each other best friends. Talk about girls a lot. You know, the usual.” Donghyuck ruffles his hair in frustration. “It’s just really not normal, Hyung. Do something about it.” 

“What’s up, Hyung?” Jeno impatiently asks, looking back at the waiting room where the rest are probably taking a nap, joking around or playing games on their phones. 

Jeno suspects this has something to do with their performance, maybe about Jeno’s solo part. Maybe he has to improve on some stuff, maybe tone down the energy, maybe—

“What’s up with you and Jaemin?” Doyoung has a hand on his shoulder, as if preventing him from running away from this very important conversation. “Are you guys dating?”

“Hm?” Jeno lets out a sound of confusion stemming from deep in his throat. “What are you talking about, Hyung? Jaem’s my best friend.”

“Are you entirely sure about that?” Doyoung asks, genuinely worried now that he sees Jeno unperturbed about this confrontation, as if he’s had enough of it to know just what to say. “You know you can always rely on me, right?”

“Seriously, what happened? Why are you suddenly telling me this?” Jeno frowns. He takes his cap off, combing his hair back before fitting the hat back on. All the while, Doyoung stares at him in silence. Jeno sighs. “Is it because Jaemin kissed me?”

“Partly. You don’t push him away like the rest do. That’s not what best friends usually do.” Doyoung grimaces when Jeno’s brows twitch into a more intense frown. 

“You've been with us for a long time, Hyung. You should know how Jaemin has his phases where his behaviour is just… abnormal.” Jeno impatiently shifts to lean on his other leg. “He’s my best friend so I know damn well how sensitive Jaemin is. Just because he doesn’t act like a normal teenage boy doesn’t mean it’s an excuse for everyone to avoid him like the plague. As his best friend, I know what I should do, and that’s to take care of him.”

“I—”

“Plus, whether or not we have feelings for each other, that’s for us to settle ourselves. Our sexuality isn’t something the rest of the members should gossip about.”

Doyoung blinks, once, twice, and Jeno’s already headed back into the waiting room. 

Jaemin comes into the practice room with droopy eyes. That is enough to set off the other Dream members into tipping around Jaemin with a frightened and careful stance. A tired and quiet Jaemin is usually a fierce one when provoked, and the others learn that in the hardest way possible. 

When Jaemin comes in like that, they all turn to give Jeno a knowing look, telling him Jaemin is all his to deal with. As the one person who’s had to stay by Jaemin’s side since the very start, Jeno has learnt all the perks of being Jaemin’s best friend. 

“Do you want to order chicken today?” Jeno offers, a bright smile plastered on his face. Because that’s what Jaemin loves most about Jeno, is that he smiles not just with his lips but with his whole face. “I’ll pay since I’m feeling generous today.”

Jaemin doesn’t say anything, only stares at Jeno’s side profile as he blinks slowly to Jeno’s rambling. When Jaemin rests his head on Jeno’s shoulder, eyes closed, Jeno goes silent. 

“I’m tired,” Jaemin mumbles. 

“Want me to give you a massage?” Jeno asks, head tilting to face Jaemin.

Their faces are so close, and it would catch Jeno off guard had it been someone else. It’s like his whole being knows that this is Jaemin and that there is absolutely nothing to be worried about. Jeno doesn’t turn away as he patiently waits for Jaemin to give him the go. 

“Can you give me a kiss?” Jaemin puckers his lips, smiling just a little. It’s the first time he’s shown even a slither of his bright smile today and Jeno feels too glad to even think about saying no. He doesn’t even have to lean any closer—they’re that close—before there’s a loud smooching sound that, as always, renders the whole room silent. Jaemin grins fully, brightly, openly, like he always does. “Attaboy.” 

“What does it take other than kisses to cheer the great Na Jaemin up, hm?” Jeno jokes. 

“Let’s see…” Jaemin pretends to think, a ghost of a smile not leaving his face. “Your cuddles are always the best.”

“So you want a cuddle? What more?” Jeno chuckles. “Candies?” 

“Yes!” Jaemin enthusiastically nods. 

“The usual, then,” Jeno mutters as he brings a hand up to circle them around Jaemin’s shoulders, pressing him closer. 

“What did you use to call it?” Jaemin laughs, catching everyone else secretly listening in to their conversation off guard. “The best friend combo? Hugs, kisses and candies; the best friend combo.”

“God, how can you still remember that?” Jeno scrunches his face up, laughing soundlessly to Jaemin’s offended rambles about how he always cares about their friendship while Jeno doesn’t. Jeno cuts him off in the middle, “But the best friend combo doesn’t exist anymore. We have more best friends now, don’t we?”

“You’re still a little more special. Don’t tell anyone, though,” Jaemin giggles.

Donghyuck turns to Renjun, whispering, “Do they think we can’t hear them?” Renjun ignores him in favour of practicing Go’s dance moves by himself since everyone’s too focused on eavesdropping on Jeno and Jaemin. 

“What’s more than a best friend?” Jeno ponders for a second, eyes locking with Jaemin’s own sparkly ones as he blinked owlishly at the dead silence around them. “Boyfriend?”

“Oh?” Jaemin lets his mouth hang open, staring at Jeno with a small smile slowly blooming in place of his gape. Jaemin repeats after him in english, ” _Boyfriend_? Jeno _is boyfriend_?” 

“Jeno _is your boyfriend_?” Jeno grins, Jaemin doesn’t stop staring. “Jaemin _is my boyfriend_.”

“I can’t tell if it’s just them having one of their little best friend moments or if they really actually just started dating each other in the smoothest way known to man. I might have to write a fanfic about them,” Donghyuck whispers again, but now to Mark who’s willingly entertaining his bullshit by laughing at his words. 

“Since when, Jen?” Jaemin goes soft, trailing his gaze on his best friend—or is it boyfriend now?—and the way he blinks. “Have you liked me since High School?”

“I don’t know, Jaem. For as long as I can remember, I’ve liked you.” Jeno cowers into himself like he always does, making himself appear smaller than he actually is. Neither he nor Jaemin knows when this habit of his came about, but it makes Jaemin want to hug him. “I’m assuming you like me too?”

“Idiot. Me babying everyone and trying to kiss them is just an excuse for me to kiss you,” Jaemin mumbles, voice soft and tone lilting lazily. He repositions himself so he is cuddled against Jeno, their faces getting closer once again. “Give me a kiss, boyfriend.”

Jeno lands a chaste kiss on Jaemin’s lips once again, smiling into it like the romantic boyfriend he is. “You’re a very demanding boyfriend, Na Jaemin.”

This time, Jaehyun’s the one pulling Jeno out of the waiting room before they have to perform on stage in just half an hour. Jeno has an inkling of what the topic might be because he did catch some of the older members staring when Jaemin could not stop kissing all over his face and neck after getting his stage outfit on. Jeno looks irresistible, Jaemin had said. 

“I know you guys aren’t dating but—”

“But we are,” Jeno cuts Jaehyun off with a light statement that may or may not have left the older one shell-shocked into freezing in his place. 

“What?” Jaehyun asks, his accent seeping through quite obviously from that one word. “Say that again?”

“We’re dating, Hyung. Wasn’t it obvious enough?” Jeno laughs. 

Before Jaehyun could reply, the stylist calls Jeno in to get his makeup done. The younger one leaves Jaehyun outside with only a cheeky smile and a wave to work with. Jaehyun dumbly blinks himself back into reality before shuffling inside the waiting room. He plops himself down next to Taeyong and Doyoung, the same people who told him to talk to Jeno.

“How did it go? What did you say?” Taeyong asks through a mouthful of chips.

“I didn’t get to say anything. He told me they were dating before I could even start.” Jaehyun shakes his head, finally processing it now as the thought makes him laugh out loud. 

“What?” Doyoung exclaims, eyes wide. “Where’s Donghyuck? We need to hear the full story.” 

From across the room, Jaemin stares at the older members who were panicking before looking back at Jeno. “What did you tell them?” 

Jeno laughs. “Something for them to gossip about.”

**Author's Note:**

> come talk to me about markhyuck and nomin!  
> my [IG](https://www.instagram.com/warmdaelight/) | [TWT](https://twitter.com/jenoryy)  
> 


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